ABSTRACT

Evidence suggests that exposure to narrative media content emphasizing the importance of moral intuitions can increase the extent to which children value those intuitions. This is especially the case when intuition exemplars are accompanied by clear social desirability cues (i.e., moral acts are rewarded/performed by heroes or immoral acts are punished/performed by villains). Less is known about the effects of exposure to ambiguous social desirability cues (i.e., moral acts are punished/performed by villains or immoral acts are rewarded/performed by heroes). In order to investigate the extent to which popular media content may serve as an effective moral educator for young viewers, this paper describes a content analysis designed to examine the frequency and clarity of moral intuition exemplars in popular children’s television shows (N = 30). Results demonstrated that moral clarity in content decreased as viewer age increased. That is, content popular among older children (ages 6–17) featured more ambiguous social desirability cues compared to content popular among younger children (ages 2–5). Content across age groups also featured a preponderance of care and fairness intuition exemplars. Findings are interpreted in line with extant research on moral complexity and narrative entertainment. Practical implications are considered.

IMPACT SUMMARY

a. Prior State of Knowledge

Recent work has demonstrated that narrative media’s emphasis on moral intuitions can increase the importance audiences place on those intuitions. This work largely focuses on understanding the effects of moral exemplars that are clearly reinforced in narratives.

b. Novel Contributions

Using content analysis, the present study demonstrated that the clarity of narrative reinforcement cues decreases as the age group in which the content is popular increases. Specifically, moral exemplars in television shows popular among teens featured the most ambiguous reinforcement cues.

c. Practical Implications

For caregivers hoping to use media as a tool for inculcating certain moral values in children, these results suggest the importance of considering not only which moral values are exemplified in content, but also how clearly those values are reinforced.

摘要

有证据表明，接触强调道德直觉重要性的叙事媒体内容可以增加儿童重视这些直觉的程度。当直觉样本伴随着明确的社会期望线索时尤其如此（即，道德行为由英雄奖励/执行，或不道德行为由恶棍惩罚/执行）。关于暴露于模棱两可的社会期望线索（即道德行为被恶棍惩罚/执行或不道德行为被英雄奖励/执行）的影响知之甚少。为了调查流行媒体内容在多大程度上可以作为年轻观众的有效道德教育者，本文描述了一种内容分析，旨在检查流行儿童电视节目中道德直觉范例的频率和清晰度（N = 30）。结果表明，随着观众年龄的增加，内容的道德清晰度会降低。也就是说，与年幼儿童（2-5 岁）中流行的内容相比，在较大儿童（6-17 岁）中流行的内容具有更模糊的社会期望线索。跨年龄组的内容也以关怀和公平直觉的典型为特征。根据对道德复杂性和叙事娱乐的现有研究来解释研究结果。考虑了实际影响。根据对道德复杂性和叙事娱乐的现有研究来解释研究结果。考虑了实际影响。根据对道德复杂性和叙事娱乐的现有研究来解释研究结果。考虑了实际影响。

影响总结

一种。先前的知识状态

最近的研究表明，叙事媒体对道德直觉的强调可以增加观众对这些直觉的重视。这项工作主要侧重于理解在叙事中明确强化的道德范例的影响。

湾。新颖的贡献

使用内容分析，本研究表明，随着内容流行的年龄组的增加，叙事强化线索的清晰度会降低。具体来说，青少年流行的电视节目中的道德榜样具有最模糊的强化线索。

C。实际影响

对于希望使用媒体作为向儿童灌输某些道德价值观的工具的看护人来说，这些结果表明，不仅要考虑内容中体现了哪些道德价值观，还要考虑这些价值观得到强化的程度。